Sunday, July 30, 2006

Saturday afternoon we all got ready to go out to our apartment pool to take a swim, only to find out it was closed! This has happened on more than one occasion.... we spend about an hour trying to get both kids happy, getting Jordyn ready to go swim, getting ourselves ready to swim, and gathering up everything we need to go outside, only to find out that the pool isn't even open! ( it closes once in awhile due to broken glass, chemical imbalance, etc.) We always tell ourselves that we will go out and check to make sure it is open before we get ready, but then we just forget!So, we decided to go geocaching! (If you do not know what geocaching is, go to www.geocaching.com/about/ ) We try to go to parks or trails that we know will be stroller and wheelchair friendly. So we chose a park that we thought was fairly accesible. Boy were we wrong! We had to follow a short trail that was scattered with large rocks! You can just imagine us pushing Jordyn in her wheelchair and her little head bouncing around as we manuevered around the rocks. I hope she didn't get whiplash and I hope we didn't damage her wheelchair too much! And little Evan seemed to like the bumpy ride in the stroller. Needless to say, we made it and found the cache!This was a great cache to find. It was in a really cool container (see pic.) and had really cool stuff in it. We picked out a handmade glass ladybug bead for Jordyn... it is on her knee in the picture.We also decided that we want to make our own "cache" in the near future. There are actually "handi-caches" (handicap accesible caches). There are a few in the Spokane area and we've found one of them so far. So, we decided we will start making "handi-caches"! Then maybe others will make them too and it will be easier for us to take Jordyn along!

Saturday, July 29, 2006

I think this is my favorite comic/cartoon of all time! I have it sitting on our desk and it makes me laugh everytime I look at it. It just happens to go along great with my previous post about "mean people"!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Do you ever wonder why there are so many mean people out there? I do! I just got to thinking today about why people are so mean. You know those people who are in line at the grocery store, bank, department store, restaurants, driving in their car, or anywhere else... and are yelling at the workers or giving someone "the bird". I don't even have a story of someone who was mean to me today... I actually contemplate this topic all the time! One thing I tend to think about a lot is, while I am driving and start to get mad at someone else who is not driving the way I think they should be, is ... "am I in a hurry OR does it REALLY matter if this person is driving slow?" .. and 90% of the time the answer is NO! It doesn't matter! It's the same thing standing in line at Walmart. I will find myself getting mad because I have been waiting awhile. Then I think, "I don't even need to be anywhere after this, what's the hurry!?"It's too bad more people don't think like that... then people wouldn't be so mean. Another one of my favorite examples... when I worked at the bank, as a teller, if we did not know the person who was withdrawing money, we would ask them to show ID. Easy enough, right?? NOOO! We had people get extremely mad ALL the time!Customer: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I have banked here for 100 years!! I have NEVER ONCE been asked to show my ID!!Teller: "Well, I have not worked here for 100 years, so I do not know you yet."Customer: "Where is Betty? She knows me! Just ask her!"Teller: "What if some stranger came in to withdraw money from your account... wouldn't you want me to ask them for ID or should I just give them your money? We ask for ID to protect you."

OK, so I never actually said that to anyone... but I wished I could have. People just COULD NOT understand that asking for their ID is actually protecting them and their money! (sigh) Anyways... I could go on complaining about mean people for days! I've just decided I am going to be as nice as possible to all sales people, tellers, clerks, waitresses, and really old people who drive slow. (However, there is a time to "speak up" if something is not right at a place of business, I think you just need to be tactful about it!)

PS: Even though this is a post where I am complaining about mean people, I also do not like people who complain all the time! Is that totally hypocritical? I think there is harmless complaining, kind of like I am doing... or maybe like "Pop" complains about yard sale signs. The three people I talk to the most (Tom, Susan, and my mom) can all verify that I do complain about things from time to time, but it's those people who complain about EVERYTHING that I do not like. Or maybe it's the negative attitude towards everything that I do not like. And when people are always complaining about other people. Someone is always complaining to me about their calling in church, or the bishop, or "so and so" who just doesn't do their calling right. Hmmm, anyways... I think I have vented enough for one day.... and I am sure everyone would like me to stop complaining now!

Monday, July 24, 2006

Saturday night, Tom and I dropped the kids off at Susan and Kurt's, and went to an arena football game. It is the "Spokane Shock's" first year and they are already number one in the AFL 2 league. Our Elder's Quorum Pres. and the 1st counselor in the bishopric, actually started and own the team, so they were nice enough to give us some really good tickets. We were standing right behind the end zone. Everytime the players made a touchdown, they would run by and high-five all of the fans who were standing in the same area as us. (There were some chairs to sit down in if you wanted) It was fun being so up-close to all of the action.We can't believe how popular arena football is here in Spokane. Every game is sold out and you have to get tickets far in advance. It is becoming very popular in our ward too, because of the owners! Now we are hoping to be able to go to another game sometime soon. It was a fun night and we were so glad to finally go on a date!

It seems like just yesterday that I ran in the Laurel, MT Chief Joseph run. I don't think I will ever forget that long, steep hill we had to run up! Anyways, they finally posted the results online. I thought those who also ran might want to see their name and their time! You can find me under the women's 2 mile run - 20-29 age group!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

The Andersen family used to have a question of the week (e-mailed by my Aunt Carolyn) and I liked it alot. So, I decided to have my own "question of the week" on my blog. Here is my first question for everyone:

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Evan is getting so big! He is at such a cute stage. He smiles at everyone and everything and is starting to coo alot. He recently got a nasty virus and had to stay in the hospital two days. He is doing really well now. We were lucky that my best friend of 18 years (wow! has it been that long?) , Jeni, was his nurse in the hospital! Thanks Jeni, for taking such good care of Evan! Jordyn is enjoying her summer. She likes her little brother and get's quite concerned when he starts crying. She looks at him like she is trying to figure out what's wrong! Jordyn is continuing physical therapy this summer and seems to be doing pretty well. We hope to get her out to our pool more often... she likes to be in the water! We recently went to Montana to visit my family and then Wyoming to visit Tom's family. This is a picture of Tom after he shot a muskrat that was swimming in their pond, on the ranch. He also got to play paintball on his brother's new paintball field in Sheridan, WY. He obviously loved that! The kids and I are missing him right now as he is backpacking in Montana, until this weekend, with the Boy Scouts in our ward. (I'm sure he will tell us all about it on his blog when he gets home.) I am keeping busy being a mom to two kids. I have also started nannying again, three times a week, for my sister. She now has Elizabeth (almost 2) and Katherine (4 months - two weeks older than Evan) . Watching 4 kids keeps me busy too! They are surprisingly very well behaved when they are all together!Tom and I recently ran the Laurel, MT Chief Joseph run. We both took first place in our age groups! The Bybee's ruled the race! However, Tom was the only one in his age group and I was one out of two... number two was my sister! Oh well ... who cares... we are still going to show off our cool awards!

I'm not one to be left out of all the fun. So, I finally gave in to all of the peer pressure and made my blog! I hope you like it and you better leave comments (that means you "lurkers"!).I named my blog "Simple But Great" because that is exactly what my life is! The idea was also inspired by my husband, Tom, and his blog. (go to http://2bedapartment.blogspot.com - post #1 "Jumping on the Computer Nerd Bandwagon")